For copyright, patent, and trademark infringement, you don't have to be making a profit, they're all illegal regardless. Whether you make a profit just helps determine how much they can charge you for damages.

As far as I can figure, BrikWars is getting pretty close to squeaking past these though. I haven't consulted with a lawyer or anything, but the main issues used to copyright questions with regards to Lego Wars, and trademark questions about putting something that could be confused with an official Lego character on the cover.

Copyright isn't an issue since the game no longer resembles Lego Wars very much at all, and in any case it's well established now that you can't copyright game mechanics, only the dressing of those mechanics (fancy names for stats or game universe settings and so forth). Trademark violation is a matter of brand confusion, and with Two-By-Two on the cover instead of the SpaceMan, and all the disclaimers throughout the book, I think I've got the bases covered. Or at least I could say that people are just as likely to think it's a Mega Bloks game as a Lego one.

The main reason there's never been a book yet is because book formatting is a lot of work and a pain in the ass besides. This is why I've never made my own PDF, it's always been up to other folks who somehow enjoy that kind of thing.

One of our members actually took the time to reformat the files so they print out in proper page format. Then he printed them up on his laser printer on 3-hole paper and put the pages in a three ring binder. Turned out really well. The only issue he had working on the conversion was he lost the page numbers. While a hardback copy would be uber cool, this definatly gets the job done.

stubby wrote:For copyright, patent, and trademark infringement, you don't have to be making a profit, they're all illegal regardless. Whether you make a profit just helps determine how much they can charge you for damages.

As far as I can figure, BrikWars is getting pretty close to squeaking past these though. I haven't consulted with a lawyer or anything, but the main issues used to copyright questions with regards to Lego Wars, and trademark questions about putting something that could be confused with an official Lego character on the cover.

Copyright isn't an issue since the game no longer resembles Lego Wars very much at all, and in any case it's well established now that you can't copyright game mechanics, only the dressing of those mechanics (fancy names for stats or game universe settings and so forth). Trademark violation is a matter of brand confusion, and with Two-By-Two on the cover instead of the SpaceMan, and all the disclaimers throughout the book, I think I've got the bases covered. Or at least I could say that people are just as likely to think it's a Mega Bloks game as a Lego one.

The main reason there's never been a book yet is because book formatting is a lot of work and a pain in the ass besides. This is why I've never made my own PDF, it's always been up to other folks who somehow enjoy that kind of thing.

Did you say anything besides telling everyone they were idiots and I can't make a profit? Because I can totally make profits if I want, there's no legal hurdles to that anymore. I do kind of agree with the other part though.

Lego already has bullet holes in it's legal rights, Nega-bloks, best lock, Brick and a hundred other bootlegs other examples include that book of lego guns, When I was young I had a studded train station. Getting a book version would be a case of finding a publisher, XKCD has it's own book.

eviljack wrote:One of our members actually took the time to reformat the files so they print out in proper page format. Then he printed them up on his laser printer on 3-hole paper and put the pages in a three ring binder. Turned out really well. The only issue he had working on the conversion was he lost the page numbers. While a hardback copy would be uber cool, this definatly gets the job done.

I have 05,01 and super powers all printed out and hole punched in folders but now I use the PDF more because my of laptop

My FlickrIndisputable rules of Brik Wars.1.OTC Wins .. Always2.There is NEVER to much blood and gore.

eviljack wrote:One of our members actually took the time to reformat the files so they print out in proper page format. Then he printed them up on his laser printer on 3-hole paper and put the pages in a three ring binder. Turned out really well. The only issue he had working on the conversion was he lost the page numbers. While a hardback copy would be uber cool, this definatly gets the job done.

I have 05,01 and super powers all printed out and hole punched in folders but now I use the PDF more because my of laptop

I use the PDF when I am at home and on the laptop. However my wife uses the laptop for work, so I can't always get on the laptop. Plus when playing a game its easier to flip pages real quick instead of scrolling on the computer. Especailly if its a bad day for the computer and its running slow.

And yes I still have to use the rules for reference as I am a noob to this game and don't have everything memorized. Yet.